After a 104-93 loss on Tuesday to a Golden State Warriors crew that was resting “exhausted” excessive scorer Stephen Curry, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers held a gathering with superstars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, as a result of the Bucks search for “ways to improve” a crew that has misplaced 5 of its closing seven video video games inside the heat of a battle for postseason seeding inside the Eastern Conference.
Haynes’ sources described the meeting as “an open forum” whereby all three occasions might share their components of view on why Milwaukee’s offense has continued to bathroom down late in video video games, and a “productive” session between the coach and avid gamers tasked with getting the Bucks once more to competing for championships after consecutive first-round playoff exits.
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For the season, the Bucks rank sixth inside the NBA in offensive effectivity in the first quarter, tied for tenth in the second quarter, 14th in the third quarter … and dead last in the fourth quarter, scoring merely 105.8 components per 100 possessions inside the remaining physique. The struggles develop way more pronounced when you focus in on crunch time, with Milwaukee producing a mere 97.1 points-per-100 in “clutch” situations — when the ranking is inside 5 components inside the remaining 5 minutes of the fourth quarter or extra time — whereas capturing merely 38.7% from the field and 30% from 3-point land with virtually as many turnovers (38) as assists (44) in these eventualities.
After sputtering for lots of the first half in opposition to Golden State, the Bucks roared once more inside the third quarter, utilizing the playmaking of Antetokounmpo and scorching capturing from Kyle Kuzma and Brook Lopez to erase a 17-point deficit and take a lead into the final word minute of the interval sooner than the Warriors answered with a Jimmy Butler-fueled 16-2 Warriors run. The recreation was nonetheless inside the steadiness inside the clutch, though, with Milwaukee trailing 96-93 with 4 minutes to go — only for the Bucks to realize merely two components on 0-for-6 capturing the rest of the way in which through which, stumbling to the tip line as Golden State closed out its fifteenth win in 18 video video games since trading for Butler and rejuvenating its season:
The Warriors deserve a good proportion of the credit score rating for Milwaukee’s late-game struggles in its lowest-scoring outing of the season — most notably Draymond Green, who accomplished off a masterclass performance against Antetokounmpo that served as a reminder of merely how phenomenal a defender he stays, eight seasons away from his lone Defensive Player of the Year trophy.
Watching these possessions, though, Milwaukee’s complete stagnation leaps off the online web page.
Giannis clears out the left wing to assault Draymond, with Lillard one transfer away to occupy Gary Payton II … and all three completely different Bucks keep stationary as Antetokounmpo goes to work, ending up with a non-rim runner over an outstanding contest by among the many best defenders on this planet.
Giannis kicks the ball to Dame on the right wing, flashes to the right elbow and calls repeatedly for Taurean Prince to vacate the right nook to try to remove Butler from the help-defensive equation on the strong side. Several seconds elapse sooner than Prince follows the instruction; Jimmy doesn’t chew, staying put on account of Milwaukee’s already all the way in which right down to 10 seconds on the shot clock by the purpose Antetokounmpo comes as a lot as try and set the ball show display for Lillard.
The show display strive itself goes nowhere, on account of Giannis under no circumstances actually makes contact with Payton, shuffling from his correct hip over in the direction of his left and standing perpendicular to the sideline — an angle that left Dame nowhere to go on his correct, forcing him to reject the show display, retreat and try and make one factor happen with a tricky left-hand dribble at midcourt with seven seconds left on the shot clock. The finish end result isn’t horrible — a Gary Trent Jr. catch-and-shoot look over a late contest by Brandin Podziemski — nonetheless it undoubtedly wasn’t Plan A or B out of that movement.
“We didn’t execute [the play], but that wasn’t why we lost the game,” Rivers said after the game, in line with Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “We didn’t execute most of the game. We’re in an offensive funk right now and we have to get out of it.”
On the next journey, as soon as extra, Milwaukee doesn’t even technique getting into its primary movement — a Trent Jr. inverted ball show display for Giannis, aiming to each get the large fella downhill in opposition to a smaller guard on a change or open a pitch once more for a transparent catch-and-shoot 3 — until there are 14 seconds left on the clock. That goes nowhere, so Giannis pivots proper right into a handoff to Dame, with GPII all through him and Draymond in his lap on the hedge, Podziemski sliding as a lot as take Trent, Jimmy selecting up Giannis on the roll, and Buddy Hield zoning as a lot as play two on the weak side, leaving Milwaukee with no greater selection inside the dying seconds of the clock than a tightly contested Dame stepback inside the nook.
Going oh-fer down the stretch in opposition to a safety that ranks seventh in the NBA this season and second since Butler’s debut doesn’t, in a vacuum, symbolize a catastrophe. But when it comes on the heels of similar struggles all through newest losses to the Magic, Cavaliers and Thunder — three completely different top-10 defenses, replete with measurement and physicality on the extent of assault — it represents the continuation of a troubling pattern for a Milwaukee side that’s now 11-18 in opposition to teams with a .500 record or better, 5-15 in opposition to teams with top-10 point differentials and easily 2-12 blended in opposition to the Cavaliers, Celtics, Knicks, Thunder, Rockets and Nuggets — the best three seeds in each conference.
This Bucks crew was anticipated to overwhelm opponents with offensive excellence after pairing Antetokounmpo and Lillard sooner than closing season. Milwaukee now sits just 14th in offensive efficiency and has scored 117.9 components per 100 non-garbage-time possessions with Giannis and Dame sharing the bottom, in line with Cleaning the Glass — a mark which may rank seventh inside the NBA for the entire season. Good, nonetheless not good — and, even with Antetokounmpo continuing to produce at an MVP level, undoubtedly not good adequate to continuously beat the form of opposition Milwaukee’s susceptible to face inside the playoffs.
Opponents searching for to defang the Bucks offense can cross-match wing defenders onto the floor-spacing Lopez, slot bigger defenders onto Kuzma — who was guarded primarily by Quinten Post and Chet Holmgren inside the closing two video video games — and have them sag off to clog the paint, daring Milwaukee’s trade-deadline acquisition to knock down adequate perimeter footage to beat them. He’s 27-for-88 from 3-point differ (30.7%) and 38-for-120 on jumpers overall (31.7%) given that commerce deadline — a level of ineffectiveness that may solely embolden opposing defenses to proceed cranking up the stress on Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Lopez when the video video games matter most. And, at this stage, they all matter most.
Milwaukee’s West Coast road journey continues Thursday with a matchup with the Lakers, who rank 11th in defensive efficiency for the entire season and third since acquiring Luka Dončić, who will miss the Bucks game. The Bucks enter Thursday’s movement at 38-30, a recreation behind the Pacers for fourth place inside the West, and in a digital tie for fifth with the surging Pistons, modern off a buzzer-beating game-winner by Cade Cunningham on Wednesday. If Rivers, Antetokounmpo and Lillard can’t uncover options to pull the Bucks out of their offensive malaise, it might worth them home-court profit inside the first spherical of the playoffs — and doubtlessly drop all of them the way in which through which all the way in which right down to the sixth seed and a matchup with a Knicks crew that has blown Milwaukee out in every of their conferences this season.
“It’s everything,” Rivers said after the Warriors loss. “We’re missing shots too, but we don’t have the right spacing. The ball’s not moving. We’re not attacking. We’re not getting to the paint. I got a whole list. But we gotta do it, and I gotta get them to do it. That’s my job.”
